The Ratty Trench Coat
by smellslikesalvation
Summary: Dean has things to think about, Sam and Jackie watch and observe from a distance, and Cas doesn't let anyone touch his trench coat. (No warnings, but more flirting) Part Two of Relationship by the Water


Pure, tooth-rotting fluff. Seriously.

* * *

The car ride to the beach this time is anything but quiet. Sam and Jackie are in the backseat, singing _loudly_ to some pop song on the radio that neither Dean nor Cas want to hear. But out of the corner of Dean's eye, he can see Sam genuinely enjoying himself, so he lets it slide.

Dean has other things to worry about. All of them concerning Cas. The last time they went to the beach, women seemed to pop out of the sand to try and talk to Dean. Dean didn't really take notice because he didn't care; he was happy with Cas.

But he soon found out (after Sam explained everything once they got back to the bunker) how pissed Cas was the first time. Sam (the little bitch) gave him tips on how to avoid an angry and jealous Cas.

So Dean fully intends to use every single method to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Dean's 99% confident, but the other 1% nags at him to get a grip and calm the hell down because now Dean knows. And it's going to be different this time.

As soon as they got to the beach, Dean's slightly screwed. He's by himself with a chair and a cooler because Cas and Jackie are hungry and want hot dogs, and Sam's in charge of the money this time, so Dean was sent to scout an area to set up.

"Dean Winchester?" A high-pitched, _extremely_ _female_ voice called out. Dean curses the sky, plasters on a fake smile, and turns around. Immediately, he's assaulted with 5'4 of long blonde hair, tiny frame, and arms wrapped around his neck.

She pulls away, but keeps a hand on his arm. He pretends to scratch his neck. "Uh, hey," he says, not a clue who the hell she is.

She laughs. "You have no idea who I am, do you?" When Dean shakes his head, she smiles. "Let me remind you," then suddenly, her lips are crashing into his, and he jerks back.

"What the hell?" He yells, a few people turning in his direction. The woman looks confused. Her eyes widen and rake over a body behind Dean's shoulder, so Dean turns around.

Cas is standing there, head tilted, and hot dog in hand. Jackie and Sam are nowhere to be seen. Dean despises them at this moment. He opens his mouth to say... anything to Cas. He pauses as he sees Cas touch his trench coat gently, then he's at Dean's side, arm looped with Dean's.

"Hi, my name's Cas. What's yours?" Cas asks with a smile. A smile that Dean wants to shrink away from.

The woman keeps glancing between the two of them, finally landing on their linked arms. She looks at Cas. "Nice to meet you, Cas" she says quickly. "Name's Mindy." She holds out a hand for Cas to shake. Cas takes her hand, shaking it gently.

"Mindy, that's an interesting name," Cas says conversationally, and Dean can't really function at this point. His mind's not firing on all cylinders, and what confuses him more is the fact that Cas is acting friendly.

"So is Cas," she says back.

Cas chuckles. "If you don't mind, me and my partner are going to find his brother and girlfriend." Oh. Dean smirks as he's led away by Cas, away from the girl possibly gaping at their backs.

When Cas speaks again, his voice less confident and shaky. "I'm so sorry, Dean. I didn't mean- I don't know-"

"Cas, what are you sorry for?" Dean says, effectively cutting him off.

Cas doesn't look at Dean, but keeps his arm looped with Dean's. "I didn't ask if you wanted to be referred to as... anything," Cas says meekly.

Dean laughs, and his arm falls from Cas', only to wrap around Cas' waist to pull him closer. "Trust me when I say this, you would've known if I didn't like it. Now," Dean scans the beach, packed since the sun was high in the sky, "where are my brother and his troublemaker?"

"They said they'd be near the end of the beach. Something about being far away from the crowd," Cas supplies.

"Okay," Dean makes a sweeping motion with his free hand, "which end?"

Cas takes another bite of his hot dog, shrugging as he does so. He swallows the bite before answering, "We can walk down to each end to find them?" And Cas may have taken another bite of his food, but Dean can detect a smirk. They begin walking to the right.

Dean notices Cas is still holding his coat. "Why didn't you keep that in the car? Not like it's gonna rain or anything."

Cas looks down at his coat, holding it tighter all of a sudden, and swallows another bite of hot dog. He looks up at Dean. "I didn't want anybody to steal it."

Dean laughs. "Cas, I highly doubt someone wants to steal a coat, especially in the summer." Dean chuckles again, but notices too late that Cas isn't laughing, or even smiling. "Shit, what did I say?"

Cas looks up at him, confused. "What? Nothing, Dean." Cas looks ahead. "Look, there they are." Cas squirms out of Dean's arm, and takes off towards where Sam and Jackie are setting up umbrellas and chairs. Cas enthusiastically opens the umbrellas.

Dean has to crack a smile, but he can't understand why Cas seems so different. He makes it to the group, and Sam and Cas were laughing at something Jackie said or did, Dean doesn't know, and he doesn't bother asking. He sets down the towels, cooler, and his own seat.

He plans on sitting until he basically burnt, then jumping in the water to cool down, only to repeat it several more times throughout the day. Cas stands in front of him, off to the side and looking out over the ocean, hand on his hips.

Dean tries to see what Cas sees in the ocean. He tries, but he can't. He just doesn't understand what this appeal with just staring at the ocean is. Dean likes to be _in_ the ocean, sand underneath his feet, water up to his neck, possibly spotting a fish or two.

"Cas?" Jackie asks, holding out a can of lemonade. Cas turns to her, thanking her and taking the can, and sits next to Dean, never taking his eyes off the ocean.

"Who wants to swim?" Dean says, standing up and throwing off his shirt and sunglasses and tossing them on his chair. He takes off his sandals, and when no one stands to follow, he shrugs it off and walks into the water, not stopping until he's waist deep. He takes a deep breath, then dives under the water.

Dean opens his eyes, and he doesn't see anything remarkable. He breaks the surface. Cas is right about one thing. There are fewer people at the end of the beach. Dean has at least a hundred feet between him and the next person. He likes the solitude. Easier to think.

He's back under, and doesn't bother to open his eyes this time. He thinks about Cas, and why he's so adamant about not letting the damn coat go. He has a feeling it has to do with when Cas died that one time and Dean held onto the stupid thing for close to a year.

And now Cas won't let it go for the life of him. It was fine with Dean, but exactly the same as the ocean, he didn't understand the appeal. It was just a ratty trench coat. Yes, it survived the Apocalypse, Lucifer, Leviathans, dying multiple times, and Purgatory. But so has Cas. And to Dean, Cas was much more important than a coat.

He repeats his movements of diving and coming back up. He doesn't realize someone's joined him until he felt a wave of water splash over him. Knowing exactly who it is, he sends a reply wave.

Sam holds up his massive hands to block the water. "I surrender! I surrender!"

Dean laughs. "Good. My hands are too small to block a tsunami."

Sam smiles, and glances back at Jackie and Cas, talking about who the hell knows. "Cas really does like you."

Dean looks up. "I know that?" He says, not really knowing where Sam's taking this. "I do too, in case you were wondering. Not that it's your business or anything. Lately, though, he likes his coat more than me though," Dean says with a small smile.

"I _highly_ doubt that," Sam says with a wide smile.

"Shut up, Cheshire Cat," Dean replies, splashing Sam. Once Sam retaliates, it's all out war for about ten minutes. Dean has vast amounts of water in his ears, and Sam's hair is sticking all over his face. They both exit the water laughing their asses off.

Dean plops down next to Cas again, who's reading a book in one hand, coat draped across his lap with a hand over it. "Sammy, grab me a soda." Dean catches the can in the air, and holds it to the side to open it so when it splashes everywhere, it won't get on him or Cas.

"Whatcha reading?" Dean asks Cas as he gulps the soda down.

Cas holds up a finger, and Dean rolls his eyes, but grins as he takes another sip of his soda. Cas' eyes trail to the bottom of the page, then meet Dean's eyes. "What?"

Dean bursts out laughing, and stands up. Five minutes out of the water, and he already wants back in. When Cas glances sadly at his book, giving Dean his best version of the puppy eyes, Dean yanks the book out of his hands and places it on the cooler.

"Time to swim," Dean commands. Cas stands, grumbling as he did, and strips off his shirt. Dean leads the way to the water, Cas trailing too far behind. Dean spins around, and grabs Cas' wrist, pulling him towards the water. "You loved it last time. What's different."

Cas mumbles something that sounded suspiciously like "Everything," under his breath, but Dean doesn't push it. But he _does_ push Cas into the water.

He goes under, and Dean follows. Cas is staring at the sand at the bottom. Dean follows, and frowns when he doesn't see anything. He hits Cas' shoulder, and points to the surface.

"What were you looking at?" Dean asks.

Cas shrugs. "Thought I saw something." Then he smirks. "I think I wanna check again," and he dives under.

Dean rolls his eyes, holds his breath, and submerges. When he opens his eyes, he can't see Cas. Dean turns around under the water and tries to find him, but to no avail. He resurfaces, and still no Cas.

Two seconds away from screaming his name, he feels something trail up his leg. He yanks his leg away, but Dean can't see anything in the water. Then, that same something climbs on his back and pulls him under.

For a moment, Dean tries to pull away from the grips around his neck and waist, but then he feels bubbles at the base of his neck, and he pushes his feet in the sand to get to the surface.

"Cas!" Dean exclaims as he wipes water from his eyes. "Jesus, don't do that!"

Cas presses his lips against the shell of Dean's ear. "Do what?" He says too innocently.

Dean shakes his head. "Nothing," he laughs. Cas disentangles himself from Dean and laughs along with him. "Okay, I'm done." Dean turns back to the beach. "You gonna swim for a bit?"

Cas is next to him in a heartbeat. "No, I'm actually getting pretty tired." Cas' yawn is too big and too fake.

"Okay," Dean says, not believing him for a second. They walk back to their seats, and Cas pulls his trench coat closer. Dean glares at it like it personally wronged him. It did, in a way. Cas is keeping something from him. But to be fair, Dean's also hiding something, so he guesses they are sorta, almost, kinda even. But not really.

"Sam, I wanna go look for seashells. Come with?" Jackie says, standing from her chair, and raising her eyebrows.

"Oh," Sam says, sounding regretful. "I wanted to have a snack."

"Well bring it with you," Jackie says in a tone that warns of punishment. Sam stands, gives Dean a confused glance, then takes his girlfriend's hand and they walk away. Dean knew he liked Jackie for a reason.

Cas is reading his book again, and Dean watches as his eyes flicked back and forth over the page as they progress downwards. "Dean, is something bothering you?" Cas says, eyes never leaving the page.

Dean clears his throat, and drinks his soda. It's warm and flat by now, and he grimaces as he sets it back down. "Uh, sorta." Dean squirms in his seat. Cas probably isn't going to tell him anything even if he _does_ ask, and that's a major problem. Dean reaches forward and grabs another soda out of the cooler.

"Are you going to tell me, or do you expect me to read your mind? You know I can't do that anymore," Cas interrupts, eyes still on the damned book.

"Shut up," Dean shoots back, smiling to lessen the remark even if Cas isn't looking. He picks at the edge of the top of the can. "I don't know. Now that I think about it, it sounds pretty stupid."

"Hey," Cas says, looking away from his book to glare at Dean, "neither you nor your thoughts are stupid. Just let me know when you want to tell me what's on your mind. I'm not going to force you to, so, take your time." Cas returns his piercing gaze to the book, and Dean frowns, looking at his feet.

"Cas, you know I love you," Dean mumbles, still looking at his feet, then looks up, "right?"

Cas folds the edge of the page, and looks at Dean. "Of course. And I love you. What's this all about?"

Dean shrugs, once again staring at the sand. "I just," he sighs, "don't know anymore."

Cas makes a small noise in the back of his throat. And when Dean glances at him, he knows he worded it wrong. And thinking back, Dean probably would've punched Cas if Cas said it like he did.

"Oh," is all Cas says. "Oh."

"Shit, Cas," Dean says, slapping a hand to his jaw. "I swear I didn't mean it like that."

"Then how did you mean it?" Cas snaps, drawing his stupid trench coat closer.

Dean throws his hands in the air. "I don't know how to talk to you anymore. Every time I say something, it comes out fucked up and completely not what I meant."

Cas is silent for a moment, then chuckles. Dean looks at him like he was crazy. Here is Dean, confessing how nervous and scared he is, and Cas is _laughing_.

"Why the hell are you laughing?" Dean demands.

Cas has to take several deep breaths to calm himself down, then places his hand on Dean's. "Dean." He pauses, and Dean is about to scream at the top of his lungs. "Let's go swimming."

Thrown off by the comment, Dean sits there, frozen, while Cas walks to the ocean. Dean follows a moment later, and they stand there, watching the little waves roll in and hit their toes.

"Dean."

"Yeah, Cas?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Dean glances at him. Cas has his head tilted back, eyes closed, and soaking in the sun's rays. Dean can't _not_ stare, and he knows Cas knows he's watching because he's Cas.

Cas rolls his head towards Dean, opens his eyes, and smiles. Dean smiles back, but it's definitely more dopey and love-struck than Cas'. Cas winks, then runs forward, diving into the water immediately.

Dean doesn't move. He's rooted to the spot, and only watches as Cas swims. He goes left, right, left again, then farther into the ocean. He dives, swims under a wave, then appears on the other side. He swims back toward Dean, then veers right.

"You coming in?" Cas calls from the water.

Before he does, Dean glances behind him. Sam and Jackie are sitting under the umbrellas, soda cans in hand, and talking animatedly about something Dean doesn't care about. When he turns his attention back to Cas, he's floating on his back, allowing the waves to rock him.

Dean wades to him, and by the time he reaches Cas, his head's the only thing above water. Cas still has his eyes closed, but no doubt he knows Dean is there.

"Cas," Dean whispers.

"Hmm," Cas hums back.

Dean knocks his head against the side of Cas' lightly. Cas opens his eyes and moves to stand upright, his arms circling Dean's shoulders. Cas presses his forehead against Dean's, and Dean holds onto Cas' waist.

They stare at each other, neither breaking contact. Over the years, they've perfected staring to where they won't even realize that their eyes need to blink. Right now is no exception.

Dean doesn't want to move, doesn't want to have to get out of the water to dry off, doesn't want to have to go back to the motel for the night before driving another six hours to the next hunt, doesn't want to do anything but stay here. But it's going to happen one way or another.

He tightens the hold on Cas' waist, slowly moving him closer, and sighs.

"Love you."

"Love you, too."


End file.
